The business world has to move forward no matter the economic situation, so as a company that wants to still be relevant for ever-changing consumer expectations, the way you manage payments must change. Inefficient loading times, few options for transactions, and a slow buying process will decrease the number of clients interested in your products, so being forward-thinking entails that, as an entrepreneur, you introduce new ways through which clients can pay for their products.
One of these methods include establishing the means to accept stablecoin payments. These digital coins are pegged to fiat money, such as the US dollar, so they’re 1:1, making them stable and reliable for users. Their introduction is also easier since most are regulated by the government, allowing people to use their investments safely and legally. A popular option as a stablecoin is Ripple USD, a digital asset established by the Ripple company, and its popularity sparked the interest of many people when they learned how to buy XRP, which is the original asset of the company, as to how it can be used in real life. So, let’s see how you can benefit as a business from stablecoin payment implementation.
24/7 settlement
You may know that customers tend to be inconvenienced by payments that take days or weeks. While sometimes it is understandable why processing transactions takes longer than usual (for holidays, for example), it can be a problem when it happens more often. This is the case for bank transfers, but other types of processors as well.
The biggest advantage to stablecoin payments is they’re settled on blockchain networks, such as Ethereum, Ripple, or Solana, and since they’re not linked to banking hours or local holidays, they run 24/7 at global availability. Therefore, if your clients buy your products or services from around the world, introducing stablecoins as a possibility for payment will ensure instant settlement. This can also apply when they want to fund their digital wallets, which also happens within seconds, whereas credit card payouts or similar alternatives take two or three business days.
Access to global market
Regardless of the size of your business, striving for global access to other markets is beneficial in order to grow and attract more customers and collaborators. That’s why introducing stablecoin payments allows anyone around the world with an internet connection and a digital wallet to pay for your services, eliminating the limits of banking and other traditional payment options.
This also means there’s no currency exchange fees, as cross-border payments are done in the same digital asset, whose value is the same regardless of the country it’s traveling to and from. This is applicable to most stablecoins as they’re pretty available everywhere, but choosing the most popular ones is advisable. On the other hand, expanding the list of stablecoins can also mean that customers from developing countries can still pay you.
Low transaction costs
Depending on the country your business operates in, traditional credit cards charge a considerable amount of fees per sale for every transaction for local payments, whereas international ones can be significantly higher, affecting both you and the customer. However, stablecoin transfers are much more affordable, often adding less than a cent per transfer. Of course, this rate can change according to the sum transferred or the networks’ requirements, but the final fee will be more affordable when compared to traditional forms.
What you must look out for is that some networks, such as Ethereum, might have higher fees in times of congestion, which can be unpredictable if you don’t have a second plan. This phenomenon happens for numerous reasons, such as high demand for digital assets and the added complexity of smart contracts that require increasing computational power. So, research into blockchains and understand how they work before opting for stablecoins.
Established transparency
One of the reasons why stablecoins (and other types of coins) are preferred by users is that they’re fully transparent when compared to fiat money. The fact that they operate on a public blockchain makes them easy to track because every transaction is recorded on the network with a timestamp and transaction hash, so your team and even clients can check the moment of the payment, the confirmation, and receiving dates easily, without having to ask for a bank’s statements.
Stablecoins are even more transparent than regular cryptocurrencies since they’re issued by regulated companies that need to offer periodic reports about their reserve balances, so they’re either getting attestations or audits. At the same time, institutions like the US Treasury back these stablecoins based on the third-party reporting.
Steady value
Finally, the fact that stablecoins are backed by real-world assets is making them less volatile than cryptocurrencies, so you’re assured of a steadier value. If we take the example of the Ripple blockchain with the Ripple USD stablecoin, we see that it’s fully backed by a segregated reserve of cash and cash equivalents 1:1 with the US dollar. This allows buyers to use it with payment service providers that work with stablecoins, benefit from remittances, and use the services of centralized exchanges.
Another notable stablecoin is Tether, a widely adopted stablecoin across the world and fully backed by its own reserves of traditional currency, cash equivalents, and other assets. Interestingly, besides being backed by the US dollar, you can use Tether supported by other currencies, such as the Mexican peso and even gold as a commodity. Like Tether, the majority of the stablecoins are well-documented and prepared financially, so customers can safely choose them for any payments. Moreover, as a business, you are assured of the legitimacy of the asset without fearing losing funds.
Final considerations
Companies must be open to access the benefits of decentralization, which includes using cryptocurrencies and blockchain in addition to traditional forms of payment or networks. An easier emergence to this trend includes using stablecoins, which are pegged to fiat money, because they’re more stable financially than regular cryptocurrencies. Moreover, they offer 24/7 settlement, low transaction fees, and access to global markets, which makes them worth adopting.
